


Concerning Traitors

by Keenir



Category: Norse Religion & Lore, Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Jötunheimr | Jotunheim, Krampus & Perchten, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Compliant, Not Thor: The Dark World Compliant, Thor 2's minotaur was a krampus, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-25 05:39:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17115455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: 'There are traitors in the House of Odin.'  Oh so many.  But our favorite two traitors will get together...and save much that was destroyed.  And much more from being destroyed.





	1. It  Will  Keep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [murdur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/murdur/gifts).



**_ON THE EVE OF THE VANIR WAR'S END,_ **

**_PRE-JOTUN WAR,_ **

**_AT Odin's Dining Hall:_ **

"I had hoped you would listen to reason, Odin... But, if this strikes you as an answer borne of reason, then I ask that you permit me to retire with my wife to our landhold."

Odin blinked. "Good Njord, you have been a wise counsel to me long before I came to the throne. You guided me well for so long, and even approved this policy of marriage. And now - have I offended you in some way?"

"You have not, my king," Njord said. "And while I understand the need to silence those war drums of the Vanir, I do not see the logic in choosing for your bride the most extreme of our enemy."

"Frigga is not the most extreme."

"My apologies - the most extreme of the surviving Vanir warhost."

"Thus making her the best candidate," Odin said. "If I can sway her to a gentler way of life, more the better; if not, then I at least have a guest that her people will regard as a hostage dependant upon their good behavior. Between you and I, I would prefer the first."

"Such optimism," Njord said. If you go through with this, none of your people will question you," _there being at least a dozen or two things they would wail regarding, before they approached the matter of how you picked your wife_ , "but I fear there will be, one day, fallout from this."

"I do not doubt that. But I do hope that, when the day arrives that faces the fallout, I may call upon you once more."

"Ever and always, my lord," Njord said. "Skadi and I will bring all who are loyal to us, to stand alongside you."

* * *

**_PRESENT DAY,_ **

**_AT The Throne Room Of Gladsheim, Asgard:_ **

Loki ascended the stairs to the throne, fully intent on taking a seat and answering the matter which no doubt the Warriors Three still had their teeth in like the wolves of Sif's old haunts: _Thor. When can he return, why not, and all the rest. No doubt they plan to worry me into surrendering to their demand._

But then he stopped short, one step away from the throne, a stray thought shoving its way to the forefront of his mind. _Could that work? Perhaps, maybe, though I doubt it. But it couldn't produce an outcome worse than simply telling the Warriors Three 'no'._ Turning around, Loki looked upon Sif and the Warriors Three. "These are trying times," Loki said. "The Allfather's collapse, the Allmother's locking herself away with him, Thor's banishment -"

"On that note, Loki -" Fandral started to say.

"We were once a merry band, were we not?" Loki continued. "Facing all sorts with a unified front, cutting down those who attacked us, enjoying our recreation and -"

"We had Thor then," Hogun interrupted.

 _Appealing to their knowing how Thor misbehaves, not a mistake I will make twice._ "When he awakens, my father will no doubt review my brother's behavior, and will decide when to bring him back to us."

"Or do it now, yourself," Hogun suggested.

Loki smiled, big and broad. "Do you consider me to be an equal to the Allfather, my friend?"

"No," Sif answered before Hogun could verbally step into that trap. _You are your own self, more appealing than a master of war and wizardry._

His smile faltered at Sif replying instead of Hogun, but _don't stop, don't slow down._ "Do you know why my brother was banished?"

"I do. We do," and the Warriors Three all nodded.

Loki wiped the smile from his face for a more sober question of "And have you known my father to act without reason?"

"No," Sif admitted.

"No," Loki agreed, and took a seat on the stair he was standing on, rather than go that last little bit to place his bottom on the throne. "Now tell me, one to another, friend to friend, were I to bring Thor back to Asgard so soon after he was banished from here, would the Allfather be pleased upon his return to the waking world?"

"No," Fandral whispered.

"He would be pleased that you acted," Hogun said, "rather than whiling away the hours in deferment and inaction."

Loki looked at him.

Hogun glared back.

Sif watched them both, as did Fandral and Volstagg.

With a slow nod of his head, Loki said, "I understand, Hogun. We five are all adrift, here with the absence of Thor's steady presence. I think we all need some time to ourselves, before we loose words that hurt."

The Warriors Three were silent.

Sif held her tongue.

Loki disappeared.

"We have one recourse," Hogun said quietly to Sif and the others.

"Heimdall?" Fandral asked. "I'm really rather surprised he's not being punished for letting us go to Jotunheim in the first place."

"He swore to never take sides in Asgardian affairs,"

 _Not more than the once,_ Sif knew.

"No," Hogun said, "not Heimdall. The Allmother."

Fandral looked at his friend for a long minute before chuckling. "That was a good one, old friend."

"I am not kidding."

"Really? You want to interrupt the bedside concerning of Asgard's most powerful not-unconscious sorcerer, and tell her - what? That we don't like how her son's upholding her husband's command? Please let it be a jest, and we can go -"

"I will go," Hogun said, turned, and left.

The other three watched him leave.

Sif sighed. "I'll make sure Loki stays out of trouble."

Fandral looked at Volstagg. "Lets see if we can find Hogun and reason with him before we're all banished."

Volstagg nodded.

* * *

**_PRESENT DAY,_ **

**_AT The Healing Bed's Room In Gladsheim, Asgard:_ **

"I trust you have reason for this interruption," Frigga said when Hogun entered.

Hogun dipped down in a brief kneel before he said, "Your Ladyship, wise Allmother, you must retake the throne."

Eyes narrowing, Frigga questioned him "I _must_ do so, in the wake of instructing my son, your prince, to take the throne while his father recovers?"

"Yes."

Rising slowly to her feet, she asked with measured wariness, "And what possible reason could I have for taking such action?"

"Prince Loki sits at the throne and does nothing that might aid his brother's plight, and -"

"My son is doing nothing?" Frigga asked.

"He is," Hogun said, sure she was sympathetic and about to help them.

"I agree that action is needed. There are missions I have contemplated."

"He is a traitor," Hogun said.

Frigga went very still. " _Who_ is a traitor?"

"Loki," Hogun said, and abruptly felt Charlie Horses in his arms and legs, with a tight squeeze on both of his shoulders that lifted him only inches above the floor.

Frigga slowly walked around the healing bed, two fingers canted at Hogun. "I could take your tongue from your head with one word. But you are a friend of my sons, and they both hold you in high regard; so I give you this opportunity now to prove your claim or retract it without further incident."

"Laufey told us that there were traitors in the House of Asgard."

Frigga visibly relaxed. "He would say that."

 _What? Yes, he is our enemy, but to lie -_ "But -"

"Tell me - Hogun, yes? - have you come to kill me?"

"I would never, Allmother."

Her fingers straightening, Frigga asked Hogun, "Do you know who and what I am?"

His feet back on the ground, the Charlie Horses gone, Hogun said, "I do. You are Queen Frigga of Asgard, Allmother of the Nine Realms."

"Now," she agreed. "I, like you, am a Vanir. Before I was Odin's wife, I was his greatest enemy, a general who rejoiced in numerous victories against the armies of Asgard. I was the greatest of our people. And now I am Queen of Asgard - at once _traitor_ and _peacebringer_. Many have tried to killme, before and after I wed Odin - a few even for reasons which did not pertain to Asgardian issues. And I thank you, Hogun -"

...as his shoulders felt no pressure any longer...

"For reminding me that our people are like Asgardians in one important way: we cannot countenance idleness." And with a snap of her fingers, she and Hogun vanished from the room.

* * *

**_PRESENT DAY,_ **

**_AT The Royal Stables Of Gladsheim, Asgard:_ **

_In this place, only Slepnir is unusual or in any nonsuperficial way different. There are in this entire city no horse-headed men - only the bug-headed soldiers of Gladsheim. Horns are on goats and used only in metaphor; Loki's choice was daring, and to me flattering...my sisters would have interpreted his adoption of that golden helmet as a marriage proposal - I did not, though I considered it, and it may at times flavor my dreams._  That thought was interrupted by her ears perking up at the soft near-silent sound of feet treading dirt and hay.

Loki found Sif in the stables' supply room. Splitting the image of himself into two whole Lokis, they - he - walked up to Sif, gazing at the long strands of her waterfall-soft hair. "My l-"

In an eyeblink, Sif had her glaive out and resting its blade against the neck of one of the Lokis. She hadn't turned around to face him. "No games," Sif told him.

Sensing this was not ideal for holding a civil conversation, Loki ducked out of the image, leaving the two images where they were, leaving the glaive's blade against one image's neck.

Sif spun around and darted one step forwards - one hand thrusting her glaive to the side, while her other hand wrapped around Loki's throat.

"Just like when we met," Loki said. _Though back then, she'd slapped a torg around my neck, making me her prisoner._

"The similarities haven't escaped me either," Sif said. _Best-behaved captive I'd ever had._ "What are you doing, Loki?"

"Looking for you. I was surprised to see you heading out here; normally you head to the caddies and the aviary."

"I figured this was a good place to find you. Also, fewer escape routes than the library."

"While I'd normally love to circle subjects with you all day, Lady Sif, I have to get back to the throne room," and felt her fingers twitch. "Ah; so that's what brings you in search of me."

"What are you doing, Loki?" Sif asked again.

"Me?" Loki asked. "I'm keeping the four of you out of trouble." _I honestly thought it would've been harder - no doubt that's what you're here for, perhaps?_

"It would take a moment to have Heimdall locate Thor, bring him back here, and let him sit at your father's bedside."

"It would," Loki agreed. "And how long would he stay there, rooted by concern, before he wanders off to find something to do - a mission of revenge against the monsters that the Allfather faced so bravely before his collapse, perhaps?" and flexed his fingers, balling them into a fist.  _Starting with myself, no doubt._

Pretending she didn't see his fists, _Calm yourself, Loki, the Jotuns were soundly dealt with._ "What if we gave...a surety of his good behavior? Would that suffice?"

"I tried that before, as you recall - back when Thor had the brilliant idea of finding the Greatest Perchen and bringing her to Asgard."

Sif sighed, remembering that well. "My mother was quite amused at the whole thing. And she and I came to Asgard with the two of you, and left me here."

"Yes, that adventure ended considerably better than the current one."

"Then at least end this one.  All adventures end - so let it."

"I notice a question you are not asking me."

Sif growled at him, then frowned at him. "Do you expect me to ask you 'what can I offer, give over, bestow upon you, my lord, to agree to Thor's return?'? I will not."

"Oh good, I grew worried," Loki said.

"We weren't badgering you _that_ much."

"They were, you were hanging about; if you wish a distinction to be crafted and used."

"We were and are concerned about our friend - your brother."

"Of that, I am aware. And this is one of those times when, dear Sif, there are no favorable answers. Either I send the four of you down after Thor with no way back, hoping that my father does not grow angry over a banished son getting reinforcements; or I bring back my brother, wondering _when_ not _if_ he misbehaves again, and how angry our father is over all of it; or I deny the four of you, and worry over how close you are to rioting."

Tucking away her glaive, Sif placed that hand on Loki's chest. "We would never riot, Loki."

"Yes, that would be more of a half-measure that leaves me on the throne; I should have realized that sooner."

Sif was about to frown at him and rebuke that statement, when she saw the expression on his face. "That was unfair, Loki!," she said, slapping his chest.

"Are you suggesting you would so something only partway?" he teased her.

"Never," she said, with a throaty hint in her voice that melted something in Loki. "Though I _mayyyy_ have something of great value that you would accept in trade."

"For Thor's return?"

A nod. "Or at least sending him something so he isn't unarmed on a wild planet."

"A tempting compromise. And I hesitate to guess at what you would be laying on the barter table, Sif."

Knowing where Loki's mind wandered, both boldly and delicately, "My mother's daggers," Sif said. "Chock full of seidr and gandr magics." _She'd always hoped that having them would sway me into becoming the sorceress she'd always hoped for, rather than the warrior I am, even if I didn't return to fight by her side.  Mother made me promise never to give them to the king or queen of Asgard - as you haven't sat on the throne, you receiving them technically wouldn't be a breaking of that vow._

"More tempting than I'd thought to think," Loki said.

Sif wasn't sure why she slapped him again. But she looked down at her other hand, wrapped around Loki's tender long neck, which led to that no doubt delicious jawbone with -

"Do you notice," Fandral's voice intervened, "how often we find the two of them in positions not entirely unlike this?"

Hands letting go, Loki and Sif swiftly turned to face Fandral and Volstagg. "Sif was simply trying to kill me, is all," Loki said.

"Oh, well if its nothing surprising, then," he said, "then your mother would like a word with the four of us up at the Observatory."

* * *

_**PRESENT  DAY,** _

_**AT  The  Outside  of the  Observatory,  Asgard:** _

Sif and the Warriors Three abruptly ceased all motion when she and Loki and Volstagg and Fandral met Frigga and Hogun outside the Observatory. 

Seeing Loki's face as he went from puzzlement over his friends' immobility, to puzzlement that even the waves and the clouds had braked in place, "They are fine, Loki," Frigga said. I merely paused time so you and I might have the chat we should have had some time ago."

"You paused...?"

"Time, yes. A slight of hand your father taught me, a feat he learned during his time as Asgard's own Sorcerer Supreme."

"My father?" Loki asked, hearing Odin's confession in his mind once more, seeing in his memories how his hands changed.

"Yes," Frigga said.

"And what name did this man have?"

"Od, Hangedman, Odin. You know all your father's names, my son."

"Am I now?" Loki asked her. "I take it, then, you were unaware that Odin told me how he plucked me from a frozen temple and brought me here? Would you care to try again as to my father's name?"

Calm and patient as ever, Frigga said, "I take it you have forgotten the wildcat kittens you and Thor raised, or the goat he asked for and you ended up caring for more?"

"I have not."

"You loved and brought up those, even doing your utmost to instruct them in civil behavior, even without being a blood relation to them."

"They were _pets_ , Allmother! Is that what _I am_ as well?"

"Bofur's Riddle," she replied.

Loki stared, then, nodding acceptance, moderated his tone: _one of my favorite axioms to chant at people for some decades at least - that no analogy or example is perfectly formed or corresponding in all ways._ "Then what is your point, if I may ask that?"

"That Odin raised you as a father would. He could have handed you over to any servant or craftsman or farmer, and they would have raised you; but he did not. My husband found you and took you in, bringing you up as one of his own sons."

"And why did you spend so much time tutoring me, when you could have been spending that time with your true son -"

"All my sons are in Vanaheim, Loki. One of them died by my own hand, when he came here to assassinate me for what he called the betrayal of his father and my clan. Thor is no more my son by blood than you are, and yet I love you both with all my heart."

"That does not explain why you raised a monster," Loki said.

"Tsk. I do not deny that Thor can be a handful at times, bur really, of all the words to pick?"

"Not he - I!" and held up one hand, forcing it to turn back to blue and squiggled.

"And what monstrous thing have you done, Loki?" Frigga asked him. "Have you slaughtered?"

"No."

"Have you unlawfully avenged?"

"No."

"Have you blood-eagled anyone?"

"No."

"Then you are already more civil than many of my people," Frigga said. "Now, I was going to send you to re-affirm Asgard's ties to the courts of Aegir or our ties over Sutur, but in light of this...mood, I will send you to an old friend of your father's - a chief advisor, as he was." And time resumed its normal flow. To Loki and to Sif, "Inform Heimdall that I want the two of you bifrosted over to the estate of Lord Njord, to paper over - if not to resolve - the present difficulties." She paused. "And do behave."

"Of course," Loki said.

"On that last, I was not speaking to you."

Sif kneeled briefly. "I shall, my queen."

* * *

**_PRESENT  DAY:_ **

They landed on the edge of a crop field, a frosting of snow on everything around the bifrost's imprint.  Loki tensed a moment, telling himself _Easy.  Steady.  Many worlds have winters; they aren't all in Jotunheim._

"Welcome," someone told them.

The sight of this person relaxed Loki further, as he assuredly looked nothing like a Jotun.  _Nothing like I looked._ "Do you know a Lord Niord?" Loki asked.

"I know myself well, as I am he," Njord said, wearing pants and sweaters sewn from that looked to Loki and Sif like strings of leather rather than of fur.  "And yourselves?"

"I am Loki, and this is my friend Sif."

 _I - we - could have been more, but that time is past, more the pity._   Both of them thought that.

And coming around from the back of the house, clad like Njord  --  "You see it?" Loki asked.

"Definitely," Sif said as the two of them drew arms  - and Loki readied a hand of magic - and ran to intercept the Jotun they saw.


	2. Rip  Off  The  Bandaid

_**PRESENT  DAY,** _

_**AT  Skadi's &  Njorn's  Landholding,  Jotunheim:** _

Njorn looked at Loki's and Sif's wide-eyed and armed stances, and chuckled.  "Never seen a Jotun who wasn't a barefighter, I take it?"

"Lord Njorn, there -" Sif said.

 _That'd be a yes._ "She is Lady Skadi, Caller Of Thinga, Clan Duchess, Keeper of the Burnt Mountain, and my wife."

"Hello," Skadi said.

"Hello," Sif and Loki said, slowly sheathing their arms. _Surely my eyes must be tricking me --  it looked as though she got two heads shorter between the start of her approach and now that she's here with us._

"I trust theres reason for Odin's son to send you to our landhold, beyond a cup of bitter tea.  Come inside for some."

As the four of them headed for the house, Loki said, "I too am Odin's son," and knowing next to naught of anything else about myself.  "We were sent here to speak diplomatically with Laufey for the poorly-judged actions of my brother.

Skadi and Njorn sighed tiredly.  "What did Heimdall do this time?"

 _Heimdall, a troublemaker??_   "My brother Thor."

"Is this a civil or military matter?"

_They aren't one and the same here?_

Sif said, "Is that why we weren't sent back to face Lord Laufey?"

"Maybe.  Perhaps not," Skadi said.  "By whose command did Heimdall send you two here?"

"Allmother Frigga."

"She's still there?" Njord asked.

"Of course she I-   That's not good," as the air filled with the long low bellow of a hunting horn.

"Horns," Skadi muttered as chest-thick pillars of ice thrust up, forming clamps around Sif's wrists and elbows, others jutting at angles to capture her knees.  "You?  You're one?"

Loki fired a bolt of magic at Sif's left wrist's pillar - and chipped it.  Fired again, harder; and little more damage inflicted.

"What did you do?" Loki demanded of Skadi.

"Me?  Nothing.  That's home security, triggered by those horns."

"Release her!"

"So she can kill us?"

"If I wanted an Asgardian coat or boots," Sif muttered, "I wouldn't have taken this long."

Loki asserted, "She is my staunchest friend and ally," firmly.

 _Even after I stood up to him when he was stepping up to the throne._ To Skadi and Njord, Sif said "Let me go, and I'll get rid of that hunting party.  If I fail, I'll accept my place as your prisoner."

Njord mused that, _You already are our prisoner - but acceptance is important: less struggle and trouble._ "Sounds fair, my dear?"

"A reasonable deal," Skadi agreed, and whistled - at which, the pillars let go and slipped back into the permafrost.  "Go get rid of the giants."

Loki would have asked 'giants?  you're a giant' except that _I've seen Percht before - when we first met Sif...it swiftly became obvious where Heimdall got his height from._ "We're going," he assured her.  "Which way?"

"Their raids tend to come from that end of the field," Njord said, pointing.

Loki and Sif headed in that direction, and she pulled her daggers from her belt, slashing them through the air to shape   **\+ + +**   to any that could see magic.  And then sheathed both daggers, for now.

In response, a pair of non-Jotun giants strode over the edge of the field towards the two from Asgard.

As each pair made their way towards the other, "What would you have done if they'd said they were going to kill me?" Sif asked.  _Most people draw the line just before death, even with friends._

"They'd've had to kill me first," Loki answered.

"Don't do that," she told him.

"What, remain firm?  Or insist on dying before you?" he asked, turning it into slight humor; "You're right, we should die in each other's arms."

Sif was glad the chill air here kept her cheeks from reddening signifigantly.

Soon enough, they'd reached the Percht-men in the middle of the field, making for a meeting of four: one Sif, one Loki, one Heimdall-sized man with a hoof and a foot and the appearance of cow-horns growing from his head, and one man with the same fashion in horns but two hooves and a more Asgardian-looking face.

"We wait," said one of the Percht-men.

"Recon," Sif said.   "The only question being, how long does the messenger take to grace us with their presence?"

"We wait til then."

Sif groaned.  _Some things change less than others._

Soon enough the messenger came running to join them.  When he was standing between the two horned giants, he asked "What is this?" gesturing at Loki.

"My second," Sif said, "and a fine friend, also backup if you act reckless."

"Fine.  And where are you from?"

"Asgard and the nearby worlds.  Yourself and your fellows here?"

"You would have no name for it, as they are the worlds between the edges of realms," the messenger said.

 _Oh good - he just declared his clan a bunch of nithings...the people who hide from their own kind, the people who are unprotected._   "And why are you here?  Ran out of music on your own world?"

He growled at Sif.  "My superior, _Unholde Percht_ Herself, does bid me give you her offer:  come and live amongst us, in the Hunt on this world and onwards - the only cost of admission is that you deal with...these people," glaring at Skadi and Njord. 

 _Ah, the old 'we move, we must keep moving to thrive' excuse._ "And should I refuse?" Sif asked.

"You cannot defeat us," the relayer said.  "You would need to wield a skin that is not your own."

"Not a problem."

"Clothing from plant and beast, are no more functional skin than stone and mud; but you should be already aware of that, unless your percht-lineage has stumbled into ignorance - have you?"

Sif did not betray a thing in face or voice or body as she said, "I could nick your navel and strangle you with your own intestine; wrap your heart in your stomach and fling it back to your boss.  Would that suffice?"

"Your answer will be a reassurance for her," the relayer said.  "It appears I misinterpreted your answer to my statement."

"Your _boast,_ braggart," Sif said.  "How unseemly and citified of you."

He shuddered at her crude words.  "The hunt will return when night falls after the dawn that marks tomorrow.  Fare well for now," and he turned to leave.

"Scram," Sif said at him.  To Loki, "Okay, this gives me an idea, my lord; but you need to tell me if your magic will entail any modifications of the plot in my mind."

"Of course, my lady," Loki said as they headed back to Skadi and Njord's.

**_. * * * * * ._ **

"Loki says seidr won't produce an actual skin," Sif said to Skadi and Njord, who were seated at the table with her and Loki; having explained her idea, Sif was adding this, "So do either of you have any ideas so I'm not flaying someone?"  _I swore not to flay and not to kneel - same condition Heimdall got when he left our Mother's Hunt._

"A skin?" Skadi repeated.  "Is that all?"

"Jotuns moult?" Loki asked.

"No more than Asgardians do, boy.  Surely the lack of galdr doesn't stop you from making two or three images of yourself to stand alongside."

"Ooh, he can definitely do that," Sif muttered as Loki did exactly that, two more Lokis standing alongside the real one.

In response, Skadi took a pinch of spice from her belt and flicked it at one of the new Lokis - the edible seed landed on the illusion. 

Then Skadi plucked a crabapple from another pocket on her belt, and flicked it at that same Loki - and the small fruit sailed through the illusion that collapsed into an absence of image.  "Well that's useless."

"I find it suffices," Loki said.

"Until now."

"Yes, until now," as the other false Loki made puppy eyes, shrugged, and joined its illusionary kin in absence.

Skadi groaned.  "Fine, I'll teach you how its done; Njord, keep an eye on the horngirl, please."

Njord said, "I'm sure we can find something to discuss."

But before the jotuness could cart Loki off, Sif approached her to ask, "You can do...that trick?" Sif asked.  "The images."

 _ _Trick?  For a military officer, she seems oddly uninformed about some of the more traditional tactics.   "__ Of course not; I'm not a sorceress," Skadi said. _"I do, however, know how its done."  Even small children know how its accomplished._

**_. * * * * * ._ **

_"_ May I offer my congratulations?" Njord asked Sif once Skadi and Loki had gone outside to drill.

"You may, though I don't know this will work," Sif said.

"I'm sure the two of you will do splendidly.  And don't worry about arguments - those are perfectly normal."

Sif blinked.  "We...you aren't talking about the upcoming battle, are you?"

"Theres always a battle.  If I had a wish, it'd've been to have met Skadi before I got as old as I did."

"Old?" Sif asked.

A nod.  "I started my career in the twilight of Bor's reign; save for that corner of my life, I served Odin until the day I retired, even when he wasn't king."  A kindly smile.  "And I know what you're doing - trying to distract me from complimenting you and your fiancé."

"My - what??"

"Boyfriend?" Njord asked.

"Boy... Loki?"  When Njord nodded, Sif repeated, "Loki??"

"Yes.  Am I wrong?"

"Y-  No, you're not, I mean -"

"Ah.  Feelings, but no declarations or offerings."

Sif nodded.

"I may have a few suggestions, if I may offer," Njord said.

Sif nodded.

_**. * * * * * .** _

Outdoors, "Njord did not have much magic, but he had enough to play with tides and introduce them to bodies of water that previously had no tides," Skadi said.  "I was fascinated and, yes, impressed with those feats; and it provided each of us an opening to talk with the other.  Lovely conversation, born of a talent."

"I have nothing to offer Sif," Loki said as he secreted a new layer of pale skin over his arm, a layer that flowed down to cover his fingertips.  Ridges rose on the white skin.

Noting the lines, Skadi slapped his arm, and the layer fell off as dust.  " _You_ have nothing to offer?  You, who claim descent from Odin the son of Bor the son of Buri who made Asgardians from that which lived in the brows of The First Person?  You, brother of Heimdall the son of Odin?  Tsk, have you no clue how much magic and might runs in your veins, thoughts in your brain, to say nothing of your royalty?"

"It turns out," Loki said, forming a new skin over his hand - very plate armor-looking, "that while Odin raised me, I am not Asgardian."

"Are you of Sif's race, then?" Skadi asked, more curious than anything.  "Of the people who produced the mothers of Heimdall?"

"Have you actually _met_ Heimdall?"

"Yes," sticking her thumb through the armor, which too dissolved.  "A very polite little boy, he was.  He was Odin's height when Njord and I left Asgard."

"You lived in Asgard?"

"Warmth doesn't kill Jotuns, child," Skadi said, chuckling at the misunderstanding.  And she saw Loki staring at his hands.  "What?"

"I am Jotun, it seems," Loki said.

"'It seems'?  Did someone cast a conflation spell on your eyes and skin, to make you unsure of what you see in yourself?"

"You mock me."

"It was a question."   _Clearly some things are not taught any longer in classes on combat and medicine._

"Then no, Odin stole me from a temple on Jotunheim during the war."

"I'm going to assume you mean the recent one," Skadi said.

"When he picked me up, I changed my appearance to that of an Asgardian infant - or so he said when I confronted him."

"Can you appear Jotun?  It may or may not help the lesson."

Loki closed his eyes, picturing how he'd looked as he held and released the Casket Of Ancient Winters.  Ice formed on his shoulders, making shields and armor and a cape flowing down to his feet.  Shinguards and everything else was there to protect him.  Finally, his helmet formed, and ice horns rose up and -

Punched, Loki fell to the ground, where his armor shattered.

"Don't - Do - That!" Skadi threatened.  _Holy sn...what has Asgard become, that such symbols are now worn as normal by its own crown prince?_ She took a deep breath and steadied herself.  "That said, good work on the change and the formation of overarmor.  Just...no horns.  Too much like those bloody perchten.  Your girlfriend may be one, but keep that tucked under your helmet."

"What, Sif?"

Skadi rolled her eyes exactly like Loki had oft seen Sif do.  "The ice horns.  Try to hold my words for more than five seconds."

Loki nodded.  "Though Sif isn't my girlfriend."  _However much I wish to the contrary._

"Fiance, sorry," Skadi said.  "Now -"

"She isn't."

"Wife?"

"No."

"Your owner?"

"That was a brief thing," Loki said.  _It was back when Sif was introducing me, a captive, to her mother; just before Thor graced us with his presence - having been sorely lost and very sore - and invited her to Asgard._

"I don't think she's returned your heart as yet," Skadi remarked, then observed "Nor, methinks, do you want her to.  And yes, you are that obvious."

"Not possible - someone would have said."

"Then my eyes are keener than your friends'...decide which answer you prefer.  Now, think of a glove on your hand.  Think!" she barked at him.  "Concentrate," Skadi then enunciated.  _Used to be, 'concentrate' was understood from the context._

Loki stared at his hands, and a blue coating layered itself over his hands.

"Good.  Now slip your hands out of your gloves.," Skadi said.

Loki got them nearly entirely out - his fingertips were still on the gloves' wrist, when both gloves broke into large pieces, falling at his feet.

"Fairly good," Skadi said.  "But good is not superb, and we need superb for this plot to work."  She looked down at him, appraising what she had to work with.  Finally, "You need galdr.  Seidr won't suffice."

"And where do I get this galdr magic?" Loki asked.

"You're not going to like the answer," Skadi warned him.

_**. * * * * * .** _

"Don't you trust her?" Skadi asked, seeing the look on Loki's face.

"I trust **_her_** doing this completely," Loki said, quite pleased to be holding hands with Sif - particularly both hands - with bladed weapons or not - but "I'm less trusting as to _why_ she has to do this."

"Since you're one of the minority who lack it, galdr needs to be attracted to your body before that body can use any galdr."

"And if I'd started out with galdr?"

"You use yours to attract more - think of magnets."

"Then why don't you do this?" Sif asked.

"I'm a minority's minority: I'm allergic to non-ambient galdr, which is a problem when dueling or casting," Skadi said.

Njord nodded.

"Okay," Loki said, looking at Sif, meeting her eyes.  "Ready?"

"Always," Sif said, and she and Loki held the knife handle and dipped the tip into Sif enough to pass her shirt and to brush her clavicle bone, then pulled it out, and rotated it to point at Loki's shirt and chest, then dip the tip under the skin of his clavicle, at which point he let go -  "Loki?" watching his skin begin flowing like the eddies of a river: blue and white, ridged and smooth.

"Have at me, Lady Sif," he said cheerfully, keeping any nervousness about the procedure well-buried within himself.  _Get the galdr...then slice me open._

* * *

_**POST-VANIR WAR,** _

_**PRE-JOTUN WAR,** _

_**AT Laufey's Seat, Jotunheim:** _

"Why should I accept you in my realm, Vanir man?" Laufey asked.

"Legalities, Lord Laufey," Njorn said. "I was Vanir because my first wife was Vanir; by that measuring, now I am Jotun."

 _He could just as easily have reminded me of the army Skadi could raise, or my unpopularity with the Thinga in this long peacetime_. "Then as you are Jotun, Njorn, you hereafter abide by Jotun laws."

"Aye, I do and I shall."

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**_PRESENT DAY,_ **

For both Loki and Sif, the battle passed in a blur:

...the approach of a one-footed matriarch using a laufey-sized flute as a walking stick.

...dodging her assaults both magical and physical - the flute, the nails of her hands, that foot - and musical - the flute again, and her alluring singing voice.

...flinging the Loki-skin off Sif, and flinging it around the Percht-matriarch's wrist.

...there being just barely enough skin to tie a knot securing the Loki-skin in place.

...the matriarch collapsing to the ground, declaring her surrender...and intention to boil the relayer into a soup for her dogs.

...Sif and Loki, arm in arm, telling her to take her army - her Hunt - and begone from the Nine Realms.

...and then.

And then, when the matriarch had agreed and been untied, she vanished to take her Hunt away.  And then Loki and Sif looked down at their entwined arms...and at one another's faces.

Even in Asgardian guise as he was now, Loki's head still displayed the ridges of his Jotun self.

And Sif was a wild thing, her hair tousled and tangled, as were the loose bits of her clothes.  Her lips were mistletoe red, skin as white as polished bone.

"No hiding, eh?" Sif asked, ready to bolt if need be.  Something Loki had always made unnecessary.

"None, it seems," Loki said.

"I should -" they both stated.  And smiled.

"I am who I always was," Loki said.

"As am I," Sif said.  "My surface is a tamed skin, a deliberate, cultivated image."

"For all that yours is done by combs and poise, it is the same for me."

"Magic," Sif said.

"Magic," Loki agreed.

"Do you remember what I started to tell you, back when you were mine, and I hadn't brought you before my Mother yet?"

"I recall you mentioning something about parental expectations."

"Mother wanted me to be a sorceress."

"Nothing wrong with that," Loki said.  "We could have practiced spells together."

"Except there's a rule among my people..you'd think it silly."

"Nothing involving you is silly," Loki assured her.

"A woman may take any man she wishes, unless he has the same profession."

Loki considered that.  And started laughing, falling to his knees.

"Loki?"

_All those people, myself included, who assumed Sif would end up with Thor..._ and it took a bit for him to stop laughing.

Then he sprang to his feet, wrapping both arms around Sif, and kissing her soundly.  Then he let go and started to say "That was forward, I should have ask-"

"Took long enough," Sif said.  _You outranked me, Loki, so the onus was on you to make the first move_.  And she pulled his mouth back to hers.

And they stood there like that, out in the field, for a while.

. * * * * * .

"I told you," Njord said.

"You did. And you think everyone is a couple waiting to happen," Skadi said with an affectionate smile, "And this time, you weren't wrong."

THE END.

 

* * *

**_EPILOGUE:_ **

"I'm sure the bitter tea isn't why the two of you are glowing," Njord said at breakfast the next day, with everyone seated around the table.

Sif and Loki smiled, first to themselves, then at one another.

"Speaking of the two of you," Skadi said, "the Thinga will be assembling in a few days for you to address it."

Njord asked, "Thoughts, Prince Loki, as to if you'll confirm Jotunheim's isolation, or an end to said isolation?"

"What?" Loki asked. "No, we were sent to speak diplomatically, unlike the first time we came to Jotunheim. We're not -"

"When a king or queen of Asgard instructs someone to speak diplomatically, it means that that person is empowered to - and expected to - reinforce or alter political realities as they see fit. You should have learned that in school, alongside _I am grooot._ _"_

"So, Ambassador Loki, what will you do?" Skadi asked, sipping at her tea.

"I do believe I will need to confer with my equal number to come to a determination," Loki said. _Equal, because Sif is not my opposite number - she and I are on the same side, we are together._ And the thought pleased him, bringing a smile to his face.

"Much to factor in," Sif agreed. "An agreement as to what to offer Jotunheim for the damage, could take some time."

"Uh-huh," Skadi said. _Should I remind them that Njord and I were once at the same stage of a relationship as the two of them are now? Nah, let them enjoy themselves reveling in what feels brand-new and uniquely their own_. "Just try not to break anything during your discussions."


End file.
